Just a Littttllee Closer Mom!

So there's this thing that Shadow really likes to do.

If she were a human I'd wonder if she has sensory processing disorder.

Sometimes, she likes to go into a room by herself and relax alone. She'll even grumble at you sometimes if she wants to be alone and you try to cuddle with her or play.

Other times, she likes to, well, smother you with all her weight and press her face into yours as hard as she can!

 

 

I finally got proof when I got this picture! If you look closely, you can see that my face is slightly shifted...because she's in mid-smother mode. There are times when she just decides she needs to be really really close to you! Her little cheeks crinkle up in a smile and her body wiggles with happiness. She usually likes to press all her weight onto your body and press her face into yours.

 

It really is odd.

 

But she's so cute when she does it!

 

She really has a lot of quirky behaviors. Chad and I have said that we're happy she ended up with us, because I'm not sure that everyone would understand her. She is very vocal, and there are times that someone who doesn't know her very well might think she's mad when she's really just very excited. For example, because she's so vocal, sometimes when she's excited she barks and makes funny noises. Other times, like I said, she really doesn't want to be bothered, and will grumble, whine, or make what I call "monkey noises" if Spuds or me and Chad try to get her to play. We always say we feel lucky to have a dog who's so vocal, because it's usually very easy to know what she needs from you at different times and easy to understand how she's feeling. A lot of people could misinterpret her, though!

 

Do your dogs have quirky behaviors like Shadow?

 

~Loving Our Quirks, -The Pooches (&Anna &Chad)

Shadow's Collar

... Says it all. She's sporting what we are all about. There's always a need for Pit Bulls to get a little more love :)
....Plus she looks cute and I can't stop taking pictures!
I got this collar at a local Pet Store. It seems to be "green," as it is made from a seatbelt. I don't know the brand of it, as I threw away the tag and don't remember! I can say that I'm happy with it though- it is sturdy and there haven't been any problems with it! And for a collar this big, it was well price at $21.99.

Hope you are all having a great sunny Sunday, ~The Pooches (&Anna&Chad)

HB 14 progress and postcards

Hi everyone! I just wanted to take a minute to update you on the postcards (HB 14 Update) I made, and HB 14.

1. The postcards have all been distributed! I gave them to my dentist's office, friends, coworkers, family, and on and on. Many people took several because they knew other people who would want one. I even had someone in a coffee shop ask for some when they overheard me explaining them. It was so exciting to see peoples' enthusiasm about them and their desire to know more about HB 14. The people I passed them out to have let me know that they have been sending them in and passing them along. One person wrote on their postcard "no discrimination, whether human or animal" on the card. That's a good way to sum up what this bill helps represent. WOOHOO!

2. HB 14 was passed in the senate, however they proposed a few changes. What has to happen now is that the house will review the changes and then it should be passed on to the governor. I wish I could see the amount of postcards that have made it to the governor's office already. It makes me smile to know they are floating through the USPS and landing in the office of a person who can make or break this bill.

My sister sent me this link (Thank you!) which helps explain what's currently going on with it. http://m.nbc4i.com/wcmh/db_16304/contentdetail.htm?contentguid=xJ5gsNhT

Keep sending pawsitive prayers and thoughts or whatever it is that you do , to support Ohio's pooches and HB 14. Are paws are in prayer here!

Happy Friday and Postcard Update...

From the cupcake patrol!

Here's what the weather is like this morning here in Ohio...excessive rain turned snow turned something in between....it's supposed to be nice and sunny for the second half of the day. Let's see if that happens. This is a typical day of our roller coaster weather!

As for the postcards, people are really excited about them! I've passed out 57 to family, friends, and co-workers so far, so I have 43 left. By the end of today I hope to only have about 20 at the most (actually I hope I can distributed the rest today, but I'm being realistic with my goal!). Some people who love dogs haven't even heard about HB 14 and have asked me how I get information about it, so it has created an opportunity for me to share that information as well. This has really been a great way to spread the word. My stepmom works at a positive reinforcement training facility, and they took a bunch to set on their counter! So in short, things are going well and not only are the postcards serving to spread awareness about HB 14 to the governor, but also to the public in general!

~Wishing a Happy Friday, -The Pooches (&Anna)

HB 14 Update

UPDATE BELOW!

HB 14 has not yet been voted on by the Senate, according to STOPBSL at http://stopbsl.com/2012/01/22/ohio-hb-14-still-on-senate-calendar/

Let's hope they vote for it!

I just looked up the tracking information for the postcards...and although I have not been home yet this afternoon to check, I think they will be waiting for me in the mailbox!!! I'll update if I get them!

Send Positive Thoughts to Ohio's senators for HB 14!!!!!!

Woofs of Hope, ~The Pooches (&Anna)

They DID come!

I hope I can give all these away! Yay!

What Is It With Beagles?

Once again...my dad was driving down the road and this gem was wandering down the middle of it.

It was about a month ago. Once again, he out signs up everywhere. By the end of the night the owners called. They said they had a "small hole" in their fence that she must have gotten out of. My dad took her back to her owners. When he pulls up, he sees their fence, which has about a 10 foot wide opening, and the house is right on the street. They said they had a female dog who had a litter. They sold all of them except this one, and they were "starting to get really attached." They also talked to my dad about how this puppy's mom got hit by a car when the puppy was 3 weeks old!!!!! and she was now 12 weeks at this time. (So yes, these, err... "irresponsible dog owners" (I'm trying to be nice) let the mom wander into the street and get killed, didn't learn their lesson and let this little girl end up in the street!!) Accidents happen, but geeze, when do people learn!? Luckily, the puppy hadn't been hit. I'm sensitive about this topic because I worked for a few years teaching a mental health program in schools- one of the topics we talked about was grief, so many kids talked about their dogs who had died. I only remember a handful of kids who's dogs hadn't died from being hit by a car. It's just sad and so prevalent. I know accidents happen, but you'd think it would only take one of your dogs getting killed this way in order to put more effort towards preventing it from happening again!

So my dad leaves the house and the next day him, me, and my step mom were all talking about how we were scared this puppy would end up being used for breeding or end up dead in the street... so I said "Do you think they would be willing to get rid of her if they sold all the other puppies?" My dad quickly replies, "Call them and see!" We just didn't feel right about not trying everything we could to get her in a safe environment. So I called and told them about how much we liked her, and asked if they were thinking of getting rid of her. The owner didn't even hesitate, she said they were trying to find her a different home... Real attached, huh? Soo, my step mom and I drove back over to their house and picked this little girl up. My dad decided we should call her Peanut, because she's just cute, petite, and spunky!

Who, me? I'm a perfect angel, not spunky or crazy or anything! ...

Luckily, we knew my step mom's brother had been wanting another dog, so my step mom set up a meet-and-greet. It went great, so her brother officially adopted her! (They renamed her Zoe, which is fitting!). We only had her at the house for about a week, but she was really fun. Puppies are so entertaining, I love watching them learn and be curious about this world so new to them :)

This is Peanut trying to act normal lol.



Even though it wasn't what we would think of as a typical rescue situation, I still feel like we rescued her from a bad situation. I just hope the previous owners don't get anymore dogs if they can't take proper measures to prevent another dog from being ran over and killed on their watch...

In other news, Spuds smiles! Lol. Do any of your dogs smile? Spuds does it on his own, but will also sometimes do it if we scratch his face (I think it's more of a reaction type thing when we are scratching his face) This is the best picture we could get of it, but when he does it on his own he sometimes just does one side of his face, and sometime does both sides, ha! It's usually when we first get to the house after a long day of work. You can usually see his teeth when he smiles too, so this picture isn't a good representation, but it's still cute.

And here's Spuds in early spring. He was in his model mood when i took this picture of him next to the pretty blossoming tree. I love Spuds! -any attention is good attention for him, even if it is posing for pictures.



Hope you enjoyed the random mix type of post...more to come soon!

Love,

The Pooches

Smorgasbord

Why yes, I really did use that as my title, but this post is truly a bunch of different stuff! We've been busy little bees lately.

Big kisses! I have missed being in the spotlight...er...I mean, all the readers soo much!

He wanted to make sure I put that pic up for everone...don't mind him, he's a little full of himself sometimes :) But Shadow knows just how to bring him back down to earth:

Shadow: Stop being full of yourself!!

Kado: I can do whatever I waaannntt!!

Shadow: Alright, that's it. I didn't want to embarrass you, but...TACKLE TIME!!!!

After being tackled by the smallest dog in the house and completely falling off the couch....

Oh. My. Gosh. Can we pretend this never happened? Please don't tell anyone?!

But she's not always tough. She actually had the hiccups the other day, so Kado's mommy said "BOO!" really loud and made Shadow jump, then her hiccups actually went away! Ha!

Aww geeze! Why'd you have to tell everybody I got skeered? I was lookin' all tuff after tacklin Kado. Blog Lady is sure having fun embarrassing us all toonite!

I said I'd try to take a "fall in Ohio" pic, so here's what Ohio looks like right now. The trees are getting more and more bare, so soon it will be a greyish blue world :(

Halloween went well too! Spuds didn't want you to see this...he was dressed as a black cat that actually ended up looking more like a playboy bunny. I think I heard Spuds telling Kado he was the next Hugh Hefner. Hmm...

And our pumpkins were pretty saggy by the end of October. We were planning on carving more but never found the time.

In other news, I'm trying to write a novel, just kind of as a hobby I guess, and I recently reached the 20,000 word mark! Well on my way, and I'm pretty excited about it!

And my brother got to open for an old 70's-80's rock band called The Godz last week. My brother likes to play more acoustic guitar stuff, so I thought I'd share a video of him playing one of his originals from last week. If you click on this link it will take you to the Youtube video!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iX8vYedDYbQ&feature=autofb

Hope you all have a great week.

Halloween Festivities

Neither Chad nor I have carved a pumpkin since we were kids, so we decided to this year. Here is our process part way through. The dogs seemed uninterested as they lounged on the couch.

Spuds: Is this all we're gonna do tonight?
Shadow: Seriously? That's all I can say...seriously?

Spuds let out a few obvious sighs...



Chad did a grim reaper (but the part that was supposed to be the body broke off...) and I did Blue! I figured it would only be right for me to do a dog. By this time Shadow and Spuds were not in sight and in the back of my mind I wondered what they might be up to...
Here are the finished products.



It was the only dog stencil I could find online...

Little did we know just how 'into' the Halloween spirit Shadow and Spuds got. As we finished taking pictures of our pumpkins this is what we turned around to find:

Me, a devil? Pshh, never! Spuds picked the costume. Something about it being his old one or something...I dunno becuz this is my first halloween here!

Things are getting sPoOkY around here already...

10 Things You Don't Know About Spuds

Princess the Pit Bull invited readers to play a game, so YAY! I have to name 10 things you don't know about one of the dogs. So I pick...

Spuds! (Please play if you so desire!)



1. Spuds lives next door to a mean Rooster. (But even Spud doesn't know that one!)



His name is Cogburn...



2. Shadow went into heat a few weeks ago (Getting spayed in August!) and Spuds got "lovesick" because he had to stay separated from her during this. He lost weight and got scratched up escaping from his cage. You might still be able to notice this a little in the vids on this post. Sigh.



3. Spuds knows tricks. Lots! Here is a video of army crawl. Please disregard my voice in these- I apparently have a need to talk to dogs like babies!

4. He can also "find the cigarettes." He's only done this a few times so it's still a work in progress. Here is Take One (Spuds tried to cheat!!):

Take Two:

5. He also knows his left and right, high 5, sit pretty, all the typical ones like sit stay wait roll over, lay down, etc.....and
6. Play Dead!

7. Spuds has never been a dog who gets into the trash....unless there's spaghetti in there. Really, It's the only time he's ever gotten into the trash. He is actually a very picky eater. Chad tried to give him jelly beans once and he'd only eat certain colors, haha! I'm convinced he does tricks more for the attention because the older he gets the less food motivated he is.

8. He bites his nails. We've tried to cut them for him instead, but he never lets them grow out long enough.

9. He likes to swim in the creek but is afraid of clear water like swimming pools.

10. He never cared about groundhogs until one jumped out of a tree and latched onto his lip. Yyyyouch!!!!

I'm Slackin'!

So...I keep forgetting to bring my camera places. Darnit! This means when Spuds and Kado went swimming I had to use my cell phone to take pictures. Sorry! Spuds is 5 now so he's been swimming for a while. Kado on the other hand, the 1 year old, wasn't so sure what to do.

I'm goin' in!



Whoa! How does he do that!?



Maybe I'll just walk the edges for a while...



Nicceeee and safee...



Da du na nu! Stick!



Not Fair!! I'm jumpin' for it!



...Getting his barings?



Give me stick!



GIVEITTOME!!



S: Let.go.
K: YOU let go!
S:I'm not lettin' go!
K: Well I'm not letting go either!



Needless to say, Spuds got it away from him and hid it here...

Don't Believe the Bull- Pit Bulls Rock!

Commonly referred to as a “pit bull” dog:
American Pit Bull Terrier: 85.3% passed
American Staffordshire Terrier: 83.9% passed
Staffordshire Bull Terrier: 88.0% passed
Average: 85.7%

Other breeds in chart:
Golden Retriever: 84.6%
Labrador Retriever: 92%
German Shepherd: 83.7%
Mixed Breed: 85.4%
Border Collie: 80.6%

Scores as of December 2008. As you can see, “pit bull” dogs do great in temperament tests!

The point of this is not to say that pit bulls are “better” than other breeds, but rather to illustrate how inaccurate of an image has been portrayed of pit bulls.

Go to http://www.atts.org/index.html to see more breeds’ scores, to see how many of each breed were tested, etc.